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Applications
The Net on a fat pipe
Multimedia-rich content and need-based applications will
be offered by service providers as the broadband rollout gathers steam, says
Atanu Kumar Das
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The rapid growth in home PC penetration and the Internet user base are
providing the impetus for the growth of broadband
Shrikant Joshi
President
Sify Access Media
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The broadband access scenario in India is a mix of DSL, cable and wireless
with some amount of satellite-based usage by the financial sector. This market
has started to grow with the onset of higher bandwidth applications as well
as the realisation that high speeds coupled with good service levels do not
have to be an unduly expensive proposition. Going forward, the market is poised
for explosive growth in the broadband access segment as communications becomes
a necessity.
According to Shrikant Joshi, president, Sify Access Media, “The broadband
access market in India is at a nascent stage. The rapid growth in home PC penetration
and the Internet user base are powering India’s broadband push.”
Most broadband vendors agree that content aimed at broadband access needs to
be made available. This includes graphics-rich news sites, video downloads of
interviews, streaming video, online games, video chats, music files and so on.
All these are currently not easily available for an Indian audience because
the demand doesn’t exist with most users still discovering what they can
do with the Internet. Thus, applications are still centred around search, chat
and e-mail.
Applications galore
A number of applications that demand large amounts of bandwidth and can drive
broadband access will revolve around our need to communicate. Video conferencing,
video chat and telecommuting are three such applications. Entertainment applications
would form the next set comprising movies-on-demand, online music downloads
and online gaming.
Rajiv Sharma, chief executive officer, Airtel Enterprise Services, says that
his company has a bouquet of new products and services, which are in the pipeline
and would be introduced in the near future for both residential and enterprise
segments. These are:
- Metro Ethernet solution for corporate customers
- IP VPN and Bandwidth-on-Demand services
- Broadband Wireless—IP radio for corporates and SMBs
- IP video customer services on DSL
- Access via the set top box for the Internet
- Internet on TV
The future of broadband
Rama Velpuri, CTO, Kenexa says that there is no reason why India cannot become
one of the biggest users of broadband across the globe in the next two years.
The opportunity is huge and depends on the way vendors package their schemes
to customers. It holds the key for faster adoption of broadband by the SOHO
segment and SMBs.
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